Portfolios in Middle School

1. Portfolios in Middle School One-Day Professional Development for Lincoln Middle School Susan Belgrad, Author and Consultant The Portfolio Connection: Student Work Linked to Standards, 3e Professor of Education California State University Northridge

2. PEOPLE SEARCH FIND SOMEONE WHO . . . . Directions: Review the items listed and prepare your response to one or more. Greet your colleagues and then offer them a response to one of the items. Then sign your first name in the relevant box on their People Search page. When all boxes are filled on your page take your seat.

3. How much time per week that adolescents spend in cyberspace? Answer: 52 Hours Today, 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 52 hours a week).  And because they spend so much of that time ‘media multitasking' (using more than one medium at a time), they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes (10:45) worth of media content into those 7½ hours.” http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/daily-media-use-among-children-and-teens-dramatically-five-years-ago#ixzz0iRwAQCTE

4. Morning Agenda • 8:00Introductions and Warm-Up (People Search) • 8:30 Review of Plan for the Day • 8:45 Overview of portfolio assessment for promoting middle school students’ engagement and motivation in the learning process; Parent involvement in student-led portfolio conferences • 9:15 Team Activity on Portfolio Planning 1 and 2 (role assignments and move to break-out rooms). • 10:00 Break • 10:15 Reconvene in Media Center for Plus + Minus – Interesting ! • Team Reports on Portfolio Planner I • What’s one plus your team focused on? • What’s one minus your team is concerned about? • What’s an interesting outcome the team anticipates from student portfolios? • 10:45 Overview of Portfolio Planning II • The Nuts and Bolts of the Portfolio Plan • 11:30 Lunch

5. Afternoon Agenda • 1:00Agree-Disagree Graphic Organizer and Post-It Activity on Student Performance and Motivation • 1:30 Team Planning on Portfolio Planning Selecting Key Artifacts for Portfolios-(What; How; Who; When (move to break-out rooms). • 2:20 Reconvene in Media Center for Team Planning Report • Team Reports on Portfolio Planner II and III • What’s one thing your team’s plan would do for student engagement? • What’s one way your team plan would impact teaching and need for resources? • What’s one thing your team needs to know before you want to put your plan in action? • 2:55 Concluding Remarks and Workshop Evaluation • 3:00 Adjourn

6. What you will be able to do: • Describe an academic portfolio and how its contents can provide an authentic picture of your students’ achievement; • Identify key aspects of portfolio assessment and conferencing that fit with the Lincoln Middle School student outcomes and learning dispositions you seek to meet; • Define the key elements of an effective portfolio plan that will place students at the center of assessment and engage them, parents and significant others in their progress and goal setting; • Assess an existing assignment or project plan that could become a significant portfolio artifact; • Begin a portfolio action plan for your team that addresses purpose, audience, assessment tools, plan to engage students, parents and significant others; • Recognize supports and potential problems for your plan; • Identify needs/resources for launching the portfolio plan in the future.

7. Team Planning Role Assignments In order to assure productivity, individual contribution and enjoyment of the day’s work on the portfolio planning process, please assign roles in your group as follows: Material Manager and Reader: (The person who drives the farthest to school each day). Responsible for distributing materials and reading information from hand-outs, Lincoln Middle School documents and samples of student work, Time Keeper and Encourager: The person who is sitting to the right of the Materials Manager who is responsible for helping team to work within time allotted and to promote esprit du corps while energizing the team. Recorder: The person who is sitting to the right of the Time Keeper who completes the planning sheet with team decisions about the portfolio plan. Checker: The person who is sitting to the right of the Recorder who collects samples or worksheets brought by team members to make sure all ideas have been considered. Engages the team in review of the plans sheets before team returns to the Media Center to join other teams. Reporter: The person who is sitting to the right of the Checker who works with all team members to make sure that the team’s report to the whole group is well organized and presented within the 3-minute time limit. Traveler: If there is a sixth team member this person is asked to go to the facilitator or other teams with questions or ideas to share; or this person may be the “getter” to obtain materials the team may require.

8. Determining Portfolio Purpose

9. Academic (learning portfolio) When you want to capture the process of learning over time in order to demonstrate students’ content and process knowledge? • Developmental portfolios When you want to demonstrate the continuing growth and development of students as readers, writers, mathematical problem solvers, critical thinkers etc. over time?

10. Standard portfolios When you want to demonstrate clear and compelling evidence of student achievement and/or proficiency as compared to standards? • Showcase of Significant AchievementWhen you want to provide exemplars of student work and/or performances.